Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
Shoah (First Era)
Claude Lanzmann's monumental chronicle of the Holocaust has been acclaimed by many as the greatest documentary ever made.
Documentary 1985 274 mins
Director: Claude Lanzmann
Overview
Claude Lanzmann's monumental oral history of the Holocaust has been acclaimed by many as the greatest documentary ever made. It ranked second in Sight and Sound's Greatest Documentaries poll, and 29th in the same magazine's Greatest Films of all time survey. The nine-hour film is divided into two Eras, chiefly focusing on events at the concentration camps in Chelmno, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka, as well as the uprising at the Warsaw ghetto.
Shoah has had a pervasive influence on both filmmaking and wider culture, and is now regarded as a historical record of note rather than a mere documentary account. Lanzmann spent eleven years making the film, which is almost exclusively composed of testimonies from survivors, juxtaposed with contemporary footage of the Holocaust sites. The filmmaker's landmark decision to forgo the use of archive footage becomes the film's distinguishing quality, with the absence of footage posited as a symbolic representation of the annihilation attempt directed at the Jewish people. This foregrounding of survivor testimonies as the key historical record became hugely influential, inspiring the establishment of Steven Spielberg's United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which now houses all 350 hours of Lanzmann's unedited rushes. Shoah is one of the towering achievements of cinema; one which demands to seen at least once by any keen student of history, or cinema.
Related
Documentary
Are You Proud? Are You Proud?
Documentary 2018 96 mins Director: Ashley Joiner
Celebratory yet reflective documentary charting the LGBTQ+ movement's momentous journey towards equality.
Back to Berlin Back to Berlin
Documentary 2018 76 mins Director: Catherine Lurie
Riding on their steel steeds, eleven bikers expose their family pasts, as they power through eight countries from Tel Aviv to the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympic stadium, in this compelling and cathartic documentary.
Our New President Our New President
Documentary 2018 78 mins Director: Maxim Pozdorovkin
The Russian media's obsession with the election of Donald Trump is told entirely through clips, in this fascinating essay on news bias, pop culture and the power of images.
From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses
Documentary 2014 114 mins Director: Rüdiger Suchsland
Rüdger Suchsland’s 2014 documentary on the social and cultural impact of German cinema during the Weimar Republic.
Celluloid Man Celluloid Man
Documentary 2012 156 mins Director: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
A tribute to film archivist and obsessive cinephile P.K. Nair, and his long, hard fight to preserve India's precious film heritage.
The Propaganda Game The Propaganda Game
Documentary 2015 94 mins Director: Álvaro Longoria
Spanish documentary filmmaker Álvaro Longoria is our guide around the most secretive state on earth – North Korea.
Championed by Agnès
A Woman Under the Influence A Woman Under the Influence
Drama 1974 146 mins Director: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes's powerful drama stars Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk as a blue-collar couple struggling to cope with the wife's slide into mental illness.
The Marriage of Maria Braun The Marriage of Maria Braun
Drama 1978 120 mins Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
With a blazing star performance from Hanna Schygulla in the title role, this was the greatest critical and commercial success of Fassbinder’s career.
Theorem Theorem
Drama 1968 98 mins Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pasolini’s classic about a handsome, enigmatic stranger (Terence Stamp) who arrives at a bourgeois household and seduces an entire family.
L'Age D'Or L'Age D'Or
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1930 63 mins Director: Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali unite for this masterpiece of cinematic surrealism remains as brilliantly witty and shocking as ever, more than 80 years on.
Rashomon Rashomon
Crime 1950 88 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Credited with bringing Japanese cinema to worldwide audiences, Akira Kurosawa’s breakthrough tells the story of a murder in the woods from four differing perspectives.
Bande à part Bande à part
Crime 1964 95 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Godard's playful tribute to the Hollywood pulp crime movies of the 1940s, executed with typically Gallic cool.
Featuring Simon Srebnik
Shoah (Second Era) Shoah (Second Era)
Documentary 1985 293 mins Director: Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann's monumental chronicle of the Holocaust has been acclaimed by many as the greatest documentary ever made.
Featuring Richard Glazar
Shoah (Second Era) Shoah (Second Era)
Documentary 1985 293 mins Director: Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann's monumental chronicle of the Holocaust has been acclaimed by many as the greatest documentary ever made.
Directed by Claude Lanzmann
Shoah (Second Era) Shoah (Second Era)
Documentary 1985 293 mins Director: Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann's monumental chronicle of the Holocaust has been acclaimed by many as the greatest documentary ever made.
New
Electra, My Love Electra, My Love
Drama 1975 71 mins Director: Miklós Jancsó
Miklós Jancsó's beautifully shot, intricately choreographed reworking of the ancient Greek myth is a searing exposé of oppression and the abuse of power.
Are You Proud? Are You Proud?
Documentary 2018 96 mins Director: Ashley Joiner
Celebratory yet reflective documentary charting the LGBTQ+ movement's momentous journey towards equality.
Pulse Pulse
Horror 2001 119 mins Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's dark and apocalyptic J-Horror foretells how technology serves to isolate us as it grows more important to our lives.
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey
Science Fiction 1988 91 mins Director: Vincent Ward
A group of medieval English villagers find themselves transported to '80s New Zealand, in Vincent Ward's startling fusion of period fantasy and time-travel science fiction.
Back to Berlin Back to Berlin
Documentary 2018 76 mins Director: Catherine Lurie
Riding on their steel steeds, eleven bikers expose their family pasts, as they power through eight countries from Tel Aviv to the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympic stadium, in this compelling and cathartic documentary.
The Addiction The Addiction
Horror 1994 82 mins Director: Abel Ferrara
Lili Taylor and Christopher Walken star in Abel Ferrara's raw, intense and intelligent take on the vampire myth - selected for the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time Poll by The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw.